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Rapidly growing revenues from California’s Cap-and-Trade program, which are deposited into the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), represent a major new source of funding for state programs designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide economic, environmental, and public health co-benefits.This report provides a guide to the GGRF funded programs, focusing on those programs most targeted to benefit disadvantaged communities. First, the report provides an overview of each program and then analyzes program investments based on recent funding levels (inputs) before the GGRF and then with the GGRF. Additionally, the authors put forth a framework to systematically assess program inputs, outputs, outcomes, and impacts. We also make recommendations to enhance benefits from the investments.

The report underscores the importance of the GGRF as a new funding source that is adding to the overall level of funding available for programs that could benefit disadvantaged communities, although in some cases supplementing other historical funding sources. Yet the analysis also highlights that demand still exceeds investment levels. The state is early in its complex and ambitious implementation process for the GGRF, and currently a paucity of data limits attempts to qualitatively assess expected and actual outcomes and impacts of the investments. Over time, hopefully more accessible data will allow for more comprehensive prospective and retrospective analyses to inform strategic and equitable investment decisions.

TransForm's State Cap-and-Trade Campaign Manager, Ryan Wiggins, edited this report on how to navigate Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund funded programs, focusing on those most targeted to benefit disadvantaged categories.